SCO at Edinburgh International Festival: Maxim Emelyanychev & Principals of the SCO
Edinburgh International Festival 2024
Programme
MOZART
Piano Trio in E flat ‘Kegelstatt’MOZART
Piano Quartet in G minorMOZART
Piano Concerto No 12
Maxim Emelyanychev Fortepiano
Maximiliano Martín Clarinet
Stephanie Gonley Violin
Marcus Barcham-Stevens Violin
Max Mandel Viola
Philip Higham Cello
Nikita Naumov Double Bass
Experience total immersion in Mozart, courtesy of soloists from the SCO and principal conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, who takes centre stage as solo pianist. The Scotsman describes Emelyanychev’s Mozart performances as ‘a near-miracle of balance and energy, sounds carefully layered […] to make Mozart’s harmonies glow vividly’.
The musicians begin with the ‘Kegelstatt’ Trio for its unusual mix of piano, viola and clarinet. To this day, the jury is still out as to whether Mozart wrote this piece while playing skittles, hence its nickname: the German kegelstatt is akin to a duckpin bowling alley. What is better known, however, is that the Trio is a testament to friendship; Mozart wrote this for his piano student and close family friend, Franziska von Jaquin.
Next, the impassioned Piano Quartet in G minor encompasses violin, viola and cello. Finally, the Piano Concerto in A appears in an intimate chamber guise, which accentuates its sparkle and charm.
Mozart and the development of the piano concerto
How one composer almost single-handedly raised the piano concerto to unprecedented heights.